March 19, 2013
When Ethan was 2 I had many mom’s tell me, just wait till he turns 3, it’s really the terrible 3s! The 2s were great, filled with many tough mommy moments so I really didn’t believe them to be true. I didn’t know how that could be possible – Now I do! When mom’s tell you that that, and they will (me included) believe them :)

At 3, children are much smarter, more aware of what’s going on around them, and want to do everything by themselves. I know each child is different, but mine happens to be smart, stubborn and independent. What do you think that equation equals? I’ll spell it out for you, Smart + Stubborn + Independent = DIFFICULT :)

I’ll run you through a typical day at our house…

Ethan wakes up… “good morning Ethan! How’s my guy?”, “no mom, don’t talk to me…” okay…, I don’t say another word to him until he prompts me. Leaving the house in the morning, I open the door, “no mommy, I wanted to open the door!!” he screams throwing himself on the floor. He has to brush his teeth first, then I can have a turn. Some days, it’s the wrong toothpaste… Some days, I put a bowl out, he wanted to get the bowl, tantrum ensues.
“ok Ethan, time to go.” “no mom, I wanted to watch a show for 3 minutes.” “sorry Ethan, you should have said something, we’re out of time now, it’s time to go”. Tantrum…

Some days it’s really like walking on eggshells, you don’t know what will set him off.

When we get home, he has to ring the doorbell before we open the door. The other day he was asleep in the car, I carried Stella inside the house, went back to the car for him, he woke up, saw the door was open and lost it. I had to close the door, he rang the doorbell, then we could go inside.

September 15, 2013
I wrote the above post about 7 months ago. I’m sad I haven’t been posting much, but it is what it is, we’ve been busy.

We just got back from a trip to Moorea with the family. We traveled with Ethan 3 1/2 and Stella 13 months. Overall we had a great time, but I will have to say, traveling with small children definitely has its challenges.

We took a red eye there and back, Ethan was great because you can pop an iPhone in his hand or put on a movie and he is instantly engaged. Stella was awake for 2-3 hours of the flights and she wanted out of her seat. She kept kicking the seat in front of her and the man that was sitting there kept giving me the evil eye.

We flew Air Tahiti Nui, I was very impressed at how they cater to children. They had activity bags for the older kids, and baby food, diapers, wipes, baby powder etc. for Stella.

Stella has such a sweet personality. She always has a smile on her face. She has walking down pat, can go up and down the stairs and has started trying to jump.

She just started in a new classroom at school and she really seems to be enjoying it. When I picked her up last week she was practicing drinking from a cup, it was very cute! She is also sleeping on a cot at school rather than a crib, and seems to be going well.

She is very independent and will play by herself for quite long periods of time.
She loves being outdoors.

She is very curious, into every kitchen cupboard and loves to sneak in the bathroom to play in the toilet :/

Stella had her first official swim lesson on Saturday, she is a water baby! She loved half of it and then got tired of being on her back. She will be going every Saturday until she’s a swimmer.

She is Ethan’s twin. Everyone that sees them together mentions it.

Ethan is much improved since my last post. Don’t get me wrong, he still has his moments, but he has really grown up. There is no baby left in the guy.

He and Jarrod go fishing a lot, which he loves.

He just started a new year at school last week. I’m excited to see what he learns this year, he is a smart cookie.

We have him enrolled in music and soccer and he loves both. He seems to be pretty athletic, loves to go to park and play golf and baseball. I’m looking forward to when he’s 4 and can begin little league.

95% of the time Ethan is very sweet to his sister. This morning he heard Stella making noise and said “mom, I’m going to go check on her”, he went to her room and enthusiastically said “good morning Stella! Do you want to get out?” Next thing we knew they were walking hand in hand out of her room. Somehow he managed to get her out of the crib without incident, it was truly such a special moment:)

Ethan is officially a swimmer, though his confidence hasn’t caught up with him yet. He will swim circles around the spa, but is too scared to swim solo in the pool.

He is much more interested in playing with other kids now. When he’s with other kids his age he gets pretty silly. He loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Cat and the Hat and most recently Veggie Tales.

He watched The Wizard of Oz with Jarrod a few weeks ago and loved that too. He has been reciting very specific parts of the movie to us, his memorization is incredible.

*** I started writing this post about a month ago. I never finished it, but figured I should post it anyway. Enjoy :)

What’s new with Stella?
-Sitting (with some help)

-Raspberries

-Smiling & Laughing a lot

-Loves, patty cake, being held

-Starting to eat more than 4 oz per feeding, sometimes up to 6 oz

-Loves arching her neck back and looking upside down

Has no idea but is about to try some food this week, I’m leaning towards peas :)

Ethan, is a unique character. He’s very bright and stubborn. He melted my heart the other night… I told him my best friend Katrina lived in New York. He told me that I was his best friend and that he loved Stella and dad. He has been a great big brother. If we are together in another room and he hears Stella cry, he tells me “go feed Stella mom” she’s hungry.

He is having a Spiderman themed birthday party this weekend. I was going to book a music man, but he told me that he REALLY wanted Spiderman, so what’s a mom to do but to make his dream come true for his birthday. He’s going to be soooo excited!

Well life is still crazy over here which is the reason for my lack of posts.

Just a quick post with a few of Stella’s new tricks.

She was pretty sleepy and didn’t do much more than smile, try to stand on her legs and grasp about 2 weeks ago. As of this week she is blowing raspberries, picking up toys and playing with/chewing on them, smiling and laughing nonstop, chewing on her hands and trying to grab her toes.

Her neck is finally strong enough to ride on the buggy with her friends at school and they go on walks around the campus. One of her favorite things to do at school is to hang out in front of the mirrors.

Ethan is also up to some pretty cute tricks. He’s getting to be such a big boy! Look out for a post about him soon.

August 8, 2012
Stella has been with us now 2 1/2 weeks. She is the most precious & sweet baby. We are so blessed and I just love her to pieces. I still have to pinch myself that I now have my little girl :) I had her at 38 weeks on the dot. I was very glad she was early as I wasn’t feeling well the last week of my pregnancy and I could not wait to meet her! I felt so uncomfortable those last few weeks! The first night at home after having Stella, laying in my bed I felt so great. No longer did I need 10 pillows around my body to try to feel comfortable. I felt such a great sense of relief to have my body back, I felt so comfortable!

I couldn’t have asked for a better labor. Everything moved right along, I got my epidural early on, and I never felt any pain, I was just uncomfortable. After my first push, the nurses called the dr. as she was ready to come out. A few pushes later, she was here.

I woke up around 2:45 July 21st with contractions. They stayed consistent, every 5 minutes for 2 hours, so I knew this must be the real thing. Jarrod wasn’t as convinced as me and he told me I should try to sleep, that I’d just have to sit around the hospital if I left then. I wasn’t having that, so I decided to drive myself to the hospital. Everyone had mentioned that the 2nd delivery is much quicker than the first, and I didn’t want to take any chances. When I arrived at the hospital, there was another lady with me in the elevator. She was buckled over in pain, and I was standing there very calmly. I thought to myself… maybe Jarrod was right… maybe I’m not in labor.

Well, turned out I was right. They admitted me right after I got there, I was 3cm dilated. I called Jarrod, told him I had been admitted and that I was going to get my epidural soon. He still tried to talk me out of the fact that I was in labor! He was afraid that they were going to give me the epidural, I wasn’t ready, and I would be in for a long hard labor. At this point it was almost 6am and I told him he needed to get himself and Ethan ready and head over to the hospital.

They arrived around 9am. Ethan came with iPad in tow, and that kept him occupied for the rest of my labor. I had called my mom near 6am and she was able to book a ticket and got to the hospital around 11:00. She and Ethan left to grab lunch, and while they were gone, I was ready to deliver. When they got back from their lunch, Stella had arrived! She was 6lbs, 20″. I think she will be tall and skinny as her fingers, toes, arms and legs are just that!

Ethan has been great with his sister. He is very loving towards her, gives her kisses etc. Unfortunately, his behavior to everyone else has been a roller coaster. We are dealing with tantrums, talking back, scratching & kicking.

September 21, Stella 2 months today

Well I clearly didn’t finish my last post. I will do my best to recount the past 2 months – they have been busy to say the least!

4 days after Stella was born, we closed escrow on our first home! Everything always happens at once right? As hectic as it is/was, it definitely worked out for the best. We have ended up in a full remodel and had I been at work while it was all going on, it would have been really tough.

Stella has been the biggest trooper. She has been on many trips to the hardware store, tile mile in Anaheim, paint store etc. She was a very sleepy baby up until about a week ago (which worked out really well for all of the errands)!

She literally would only wake up only to eat. This past week she has finally come to life and is starting to show her personality. She has begun to smile, which literally melts my heart! and she is enjoying interacting with us now. loves to be tickled and talked to. She also loves to be held. If she is awake, she wants your 100% attention.

I’m very proud of myself that she has been fed 99.5% breastmilk so far (she had 1 oz of formula in the hospital :)). Considering my struggle that I had feeding Ethan, this is quite an accomplishment for me! I do however mostly pump, I find it to be more convenient. Also, it took her a few weeks to figure out how to latch on, so bottles were much easier from the start. Before we started bottles, we tried syringe feeding too which was a pain. I take the breastfeeding day by day, and will continue to do it as long as it feels right. It could be tomorrow, a week from now, 2 months from now that I stop. I will just do what feels right for me and for Stella. Like I said, I’m just happy that I’ve made it this far.

After 9 weeks of maternity leave, I’m going back to work on Monday. It is bittersweet this time around. It will be nice to get back in the swing of things, and I love my job, but it will be so hard to leave Stella. This is new for me because when I went back to work with Ethan, I couldn’t wait to go back. I think second time around, things are a lot easier, I have been able to enjoy Stella more. With Ethan I was very overwhelmed and stressed out. Not his fault obviously, but a huge shift in our life with the first child.

Stella will be attending the same school as Ethan in their brand new infant program. It will be really nice to have them in the same place. I just got off the phone with the school, and she will have her yearbook picture taken on Tuesday. Too much! They only take them at 12 weeks, so Stella will be at home, part time with dad, part time with a nanny for those 3 weeks.

Having 2 kids is definitely a new challenge. We have been fortunate that for the most part we have been 2 on 2. There has only been a few times when there has been only 1 of us with both kids. 1 on 2 is tough (in my opinion). If I am tending to Ethan, it usually never fails that Stella needs something at the same time too. Poor girl has had to cry for a few minutes a couple of times (which breaks my heart), because you can’t help 2 at once. A couple of weeks ago Ethan was throwing a huge fit and Stella was crying. I told Jarrod that I felt like I was in a scene from a movie. We both just laughed, it’s really all you can do.

I mentioned at the beginning of the post that Ethan had been having a tough time. Poor guy got very out of his routine for the first few weeks Stella was here. He was in the middle of summer school, which meant different teachers and not so structured, granny was here watching him, with her new routines, all on top of the fact that he had a brand new sister. Then a couple of weeks later, we moved into our new house, which is/was total chaos.

We walked by our old street a couple of days ago and Ethan started pointing and crying that he wanted to go to the old house. Poor guy thought that if we went there, everything would be just like it was before we left.

It’s not only a new house we are living in, but like I mentioned it’s a construction zone. That means that we have all been living in the master bedroom. All his toys and many of his clothes are still in boxes because there is nowhere to unpack them. You have to imagine, if it’s chaotic for us, it’s a million times worse for him. At 2,he doesn’t know how to express his feelings. In turn, it affects his behavior causing him to be aggressive, mischievous etc. Kids need structure, and to feel some sense of control in their environment, and he’s had neither.

His behavior (minus a 2 year old outburst here or there) has been much improved.I’m hoping as the house gets closer to completion, and routines are rebuilt, his behavior becomes even more consistent.

Our house is everything we had been looking for. It’s right next to Marine Stadium, which means we are right next to a huge park and the water. That definitely makes up for the fact that we don’t have much outdoor area on our property. The house is 4 bedrooms, which was a must for Jarrod’s home office and comfortable accommodations for our many visitors. We are also in the school district we wanted to be in! All around, we really couldn’t have asked for anything else. We plan to live here pretty much forever. We are feeling very grateful and very blessed. Life is good!

Individual updates:

Ethan, is trying to use “because”. He tells me he doesn’t want to do something because he doesn’t want to do something. He sings along to “Call me maybe”, he breaks out in hilarious dance moves every time he hears music, starting to ask “why” and figure out the world, says his favorite food is mac n cheese, and will soon be moving up to the big kids class at school.

Stella, does not love binkys, is just making the transition from 3oz to 4oz bottles, wakes up around 2 and 5am to feed (looking forward to eliminating that 2am feed) and is a feisty little thing. She’s happy most of the time, but is not shy about throwing a fit at the drop of a hat. She went on her first road trip 3 weeks ago, and got to meet her grandma Ida Priscilla who she’s named after.

One last note, I gained about 25lbs while I was pregnant. Well, a miracle happened and almost 9 weeks later, I have 3lbs to go until I’m back at my pre-pregnancy weight. I can attribute it to 2 things. First off genes, I’m really fortunate that way. 2nd, while pregnant and breastfeeding, I don’t eat more than I normally would. It definitely doesn’t mean I don’t treat myself, but everything in moderation.

Well, chances are it will be awhile until my next post. So until then…

My due date is 4 weeks from today! I couldn’t be more excited! I reeealllyy hope that miss Stella decides to arrive early and not late. My back pain has miraculously gone away (for the most part). I still have heart burn, have to pee constantly and my left ankle has been swelling with both ankles feeling achy. I’ve gained 24lbs. Hoping that I don’t gain anymore as I have gained as much as I did at the end of my pregnancy with Ethan.

Ethan 2 1/2:

Today was Ethan’s 4th swimming lesson. His instructor says that he’s doing really well. The first lesson he was cautious, but didn’t cry. 2nd and 3rd lessons, he cried quite a bit. Today, he was very cautious, but only cried when his instructor put his head under the water. He likes and feels comfortable floating on his back.

Last night we took Ethan to see his first movie at the theatre, Madagascar 3. He did really well! For the first 30 minutes he wouldn’t even grab popcorn he was so focused on the movie. He did well up until the last 10 minutes, when we left.

Ethan is still full of sass and is very sweet until we stop him from doing something he wants to do or tell him to stop a behavior. Being at the end of my pregnancy and pretty tired, I do let a few things slip, but we are trying really hard to be consistent and discipline him as much as possible. One thing that really works with him is saying if you listen and do x, y & z, you’ll get a special treat.

Bed time has been a breeze as we have our routine down. He sits for a couple of books in our lap on the rocking chair, hops in bed, we tuck him in, read a couple more books from the chair, hug, kiss say good night and leave. Nap time is another story… It is a battle every weekend. Probably because no weekend is the same so he can’t count on the same routine. Not sure how to fix that? But hopefully in time it will get easier.

Ethan has been singing for quite some time, but he’s been singing a ton lately. Some of his favorites are bumble bee, itsy bitsy spider, BINGO, Old McDonald and twinkle twinkle.

For the past month or 2 Ethan has been all about the Ipad and Iphone. He knows how to do everything on both from turning the volume up or down, to finding where his apps are to navigating all of his apps and starting movies. We are going to have to start regulating and limiting the time he spends on there. If we let him, he’d probably be on them all day.

10 weeks to go until my due date! I’m at the point now that I can’t wait, I am ready to meet her! The pregnancy is still going well, minus lower back pain (and sciatica) and heartburn. I forgot how bad the heartburn gets in the 3rd trimester, the only thing that helps is Tums.

I’ve been going to my chiropractor almost every week to help with my sciatica. He tried a new treatment on my last visit and it seemed to help a lot. He had me lay on 2 blocks with my lower back, the goal was to push my pelvis back together to relieve pressure on my sciatic nerve and I think it did what it was supposed to.

I’ve gained 18 lbs so far (3 lbs more than last pregnancy at this time). Total gain last time was 24 lbs, so hopefully I come in close this time around.

Ethan is almost fully potty trained. He has an accident probably every other day but is doing really well overall. I was surprised at how quickly he got the hang of it. We did have a set back last weekend when we went out of town. He had nonstop accidents all weekend, but has been back to his good habits all of this week now that we’re back in our routine.

The hardest part for kids (I’ve learned most kids) about potty training is going #2. They hold it and are afraid to go, some will only go at home. After the first few very scary times, Ethan’s (for the most part) got the hang of that part too.

My personal struggle with the potty training is public restrooms. I’m a bit of a germa-phobe and when he tells me he has to go potty while we are out, I start freaking out. Without fail he touches the toilet with his hands and legs, shorts and underwear touch the floor :/. The seat covers just don’t work with such a little bottom, and one toilet we went to was far too big for him to sit. I ended up holding him over the toilet and he was able to go. I found a potty protecter online that I’m going to purchase that covers the entire seat. I hope it works well because it’s going to be too much for me to handle otherwise.

Here are a couple of cute Ethan comments in the past couple of weeks.

We have been using 1, 2, 3 magic. Last night Jarrod said “1”, then Ethan said “don’t count”, Jarrod said “2” Ethan said “don’t count dad”. We struggled to keep a straight face through that one.

I ask him a million questions about his day when I pick him up from school and the last couple of times he has told me either to “stop talking” or to “let me talk mom”.

For some reason the other funny sayings are escaping me, there are loads of them! I’ll post more next blog.

I’ve still been having fun with Ethan’s Planet Box lunch. Here’s a picture of one his lunches from last week. I also went to his open house at school, and here’s a picture of him doing one of his jobs, “cutting”.

Today marks the beginning of my third trimester. I’ve been very fortunate (knock on wood) to have an uneventful and boring pregnancy so far. I’ve been feeling pretty good, minus some lower back pain.

I’ve had no food cravings, a slight aversion to chicken and meat in general, and have had a lot of energy since a couple of weeks into my second trimester. With the third trimester here, I can tell that I’m starting to slow down a bit down and am really tired by the time the evening rolls around. The last 3 weeks I’ve been gaining about 2 pounds a week. My belly is starting to get really big! I’ve gained 16 pounds so far. Hopefully I’ll resume the 1 pound a week weight gain soon.

In Ethan news, he has been potty training since Thursday. He told his teacher on Thursday he didn’t want to wear his diaper, so he (for the most part) hasn’t been wearing one since then. He’s had lots of accidents but at least we are making strides in the right direction and hopefully he will be potty trained by the time Stella arrives.

Yesterday Ethan started to use the pedals on his bike rather than scooting with his feet on the ground. We have been working towards that for a while so we were pretty excited! He also used scissors at school and brought home some of his “cutting work” about a week ago. His teacher said that he is enjoying cutting carrots and other vegetables with a vegetable chopper. We need to get one for the house so he can help us prepare dinner.

Poor little guy is still suffering from side effects of when he had hand, food and mouth disease. One of his big toes, and both of his thumbnails are falling off. I read online that with the most recent strain that has been going around it’s fairly common. I pray that he doesn’t lose anymore nails, it seems so painful and looks terrible!

2 weeks ago we went to Fresno so daddy could go turkey hunting. Ethan got to spend lots of quality time with Grandma Karen and Grandpa Bill. He went swimming (well sort of) in their pool and they took him fishing. As Grandma said they didn’t catch any fish, but they made lots of memories.

Last weekend we went to Sacramento and the Bay Area for a wedding. Ethan did really well on the “big Jetblue airplane” and had a really fun time with Granny, Grandpa Chuck and cousin Emma. They went to the zoo, the pond (which had ducks) and Ethan went with Granny to her school. In Mrs. Marian’s class they did a lesson on the different continents, and focused on Africa. He is a smart little cookie and picks everything up like a sponge. Lions are his favorite animals and he already knew that they live in Africa and that they eat antelope, but when we got back from the Bay Area he told us that they are carnivore’s.

Ethan has still been having aggressive behavior at times which includes hitting and throwing toys. He has had to sit away from the other kids at school from time to time when he’s having bouts of his aggression or just won’t keep his hands to himself. I’m not quite sure what to do about it, but we’ve been trying to discipline constantly, with time outs, telling him to be gentle and taking things away from him that he wants. I’m hoping that it’s just part of being two and that he will outgrow it soon. He’s also perfected the terrible 2 tantrum. Often when he’s having his tantrum is when he’s the most aggressive.

As aggressive as he can be, he is also a very sweet boy. His new favorite thing is to say hello to everyone he sees. He is also really gentle with babies and toddlers that are smaller than him. He is also pretty good at sharing with his toys.